India is home to one of the world’s largest pseudo-scientific platforms publishing ‘fake science’

A collaborative investigation facilitated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has revealed that India is one of the largest markets for “fake science”, where thousands of scientists “have published studies in self-described scientific journals that don’t provide traditional checks for accuracy and quality”.  Sixty reporters from media outlets analysed 175,000 scientific articles published by five of the world’s largest pseudo-scientific platforms, which includes India-based OMICS Publishing Group.

The participating media organisations included The Indian Express, Le Monde, New Yorker and Newstapa.

A detailed investigation by The Indian Express revealed that “over 300 publishers manage what are called ‘predatory journals’ that claim to be international and publish papers for a listed ‘charge’ or ‘fee’ that ranges from $30-$1,800 per piece”. The investigation noted that “most of these publications exist online, claim to have a list of experts as editors, and employ minimal or no editorial checks before publication”.

Hyderabad-based OMICS, for example, is behind 785 journals and claims to have published over 1 million articles on topics like medicine, pharmaceuticals and engineering. Indian Express noted that OMICS is facing action from the Federal Trade Commission in the US for fraudulent claims. Similarly, there’s IOSR which states “most” of its journals are approved by the UGC though none of their journals figure on the UGC list.

One of the articles published by OMICS was a clinical study in the Journal of Integrative Oncology. Le Monde‘s investigation found that the study was fake and “the authors were affiliated with a research center that doesn’t exist”.